


'Tis The Season

by Yukito



Category: Republic of Doyle
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-12-21
Updated: 2012-12-21
Packaged: 2017-11-21 20:18:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/601669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yukito/pseuds/Yukito
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leslie responds to a call at Santa's Village in the mall, only to find that it's Jake Doyle. How it plays out is something Leslie Bennett couldn't predict.</p>
            </blockquote>





	'Tis The Season

**Author's Note:**

  * For [in48frames](https://archiveofourown.org/users/in48frames/gifts).



Leslie couldn’t quite believe her eyes as she walked into the small red house that said ‘Santa’s Workshop’ on the front of it. Santa’s Workshop was located in the middle of the mall that was meant to be where Santa could take breaks from the little children. She stood there, staring with an unimpressed expression on her face and shook her head.

“Really, Doyle?” That was all Leslie could muster at the moment.

Jake offered Leslie a smile as if that made things better as he stood there handcuffed to the pole in Santa’s Workshop clad in an elf costume that was at least one size too small. He hoped he was coming off as adorable and not entirely pathetic which is how he felt. 

“Hi, Leslie. Come to see Santa?” Jake’s smile widened.

Leslie sighed and closed her eyes for a moment as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Then she shook her head. “I don’t even want to know, Jake.”

She walked up to Jake and used her keys to get him out of the handcuffs. Once his hands were free, Jake rubbed at his wrists.

“Thanks, Leslie. It was starting to get uncomfortable.”

“From the looks of it, it still is.” Leslie hadn’t meant to look, but Jake Doyle’s elf costume left little to the imagination. She tried to tell herself that she didn’t care and that she wasn’t attracted to him, but it was a lie. Even though he looked ridiculous, he still managed to look _good_. Damn him.

Jake looked confused for a moment and then glanced down. He realized what she meant and he immediately moved his hands to cover his pelvic area with a small, nervous chuckle.

“Ah, well, you know. Elves don’t usually come in my size.”

“Really?” Leslie said with an overly sarcastic tone. “I would have thought they fit just perfectly.”

“I’ll have you know I’m above average.” Jake’s chin lifted a little, defensively.

“Well,” Leslie said as she looked at Jake with a neutral expression that was hard to read. “You managed to scar two teenage girls working here as legitimate Santa’s elves and almost gave Mrs. Claus a heart attack, so I think maybe it’s time that you vacate Santa’s village and go back home, hm?”

With that, Leslie exited the small red house and started to walk down the mall. She couldn’t believe out of everyone on the police force, she had been the one to answer the call of the ‘drunken disorderly’ at Santa’s Village. She knew that Jake was a lot of things and he could even be a drunk at times, but when she saw him, she knew it had something to do with a case rather than him being a complete idiot.

“Leslie, wait!”

Leslie heard Jake’s voice call out to her and while she didn’t stop walking, she did slow down. She didn’t want to make it seem like she wanted to talk to him, but it was hard to actually ignore Jake Doyle altogether. A moment later, Jake was walking beside her, still in the ridiculous outfit but at least now he was wearing his leather jacket over top.

“What, Jake?” Leslie asked with a side glance as she kept walking. “I’ve got a lot to do.”

“I couldn’t help by notice you’re not exactly in your normal uniform.” Jake knew that her regular uniform was usually a suit of some kind, but she was far too casual to have been on duty.

“That’s because I’m not on duty. I’m shopping right now.”

“And you decided to come see how I was doing?” Jake thought it was a little odd that Leslie had been the one to answer the call. It gave him a small ego boost, actually. He even started to smirk.

Leslie saw the smirk starting to form. “I was closest when I heard the call over the radio I keep with me. I decided to respond. I didn’t know it was you until I got there.”

Jake’s expression fell a little and Leslie felt a tinge of regret for saying what she did, but it was necessary. Jake would only hurt her. She had to steer clear from him despite the way she felt about him. Despite her retort, Jake continued to walk with her.

“So you’re Christmas shopping, then?”

“Yes.” She said as she looked poignantly into a store window. “There’s only five days left until Christmas and I still don’t have half the gifts I need, so I’m shopping.”

Jake’s lips had a smile on themselves once again. “Get anything for me?”

“No.”

“Aw, come on, Leslie. Why not?”

“Because, Jake.” 

“I got one for you.”

Jake’s announcement made Leslie focus on him. She tried to look at his face and tell if he was being truthful or not, but couldn’t. It was too hard to tell. “You did?”

“Yes.” He nodded.

“Why?”

Jake looked a little confused at the question, but when on ahead to answer it. “Because we’re friends.”

Leslie looked at him again. She looked like she always did, but inside she could feel her heart beating just a little faster. Leslie slowed to a halt. “Friends.”

“Yeah,” He nodded again. “Friends.”

She knew she shouldn’t be disappointed with hearing Jake call them friends, but she was. It was what she had been wanting, but part of Leslie had hoped that Jake would refuse to give up.

“Then I suppose I should get you something, too, then.” Leslie remembered seeing a few things she had thought about getting Jake and now it seemed all that thinking would be useful.

“You don’t have to.” 

“No, it’s only fair.”

Jake shrugged, but smile. “Okay, but I get to give you yours first.”

Leslie’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You have the gift here, and now?”

Jake’s smile widened as he began to fish through his pockets and retrieved a small, poorly wrapped box from his jacket. He held it out to her. “Merry Christmas.”

Leslie looked at the square box and felt immediate panic, but she kept her features under control and forced herself to take the box from his hands. “You know, for an elf, you’re not terribly good at wrapping.”

He chuckled. “I’ll have to take more classes on that when I get back to the North Pole, I guess.”

His joke produced a small, exhaled laugh as Leslie held the box almost gingerly in her hands. She was staring and got lost in thought.

“Well?”

Leslie looked up almost startled. “Well what?”

“You going to open it or what?”

“Right.” Leslie sent Jake a small smile and then unwrapped her present. It was a small box that definitely looked like a jewelry box. She had no idea how she was going to react when she opened the box and saw what she assumed was a ring.

Only when she opened it, she paused, confused. 

“It’s... a chain?”

Jake nodded. “Your chain, actually. The one that broke last week when you were chasing down that big guy who was dealing cocaine out the back of the KFC? You seemed really upset that you lost it so I went back and found it in one of the gutters and got it fixed for you.”

Leslie was speechless. 

“I don’t know what to say...” She hadn’t been expecting something so thoughtful from him. From Jake Doyle. He usually wasn’t so serious and she was surprised he even noticed she had been upset since she had tried to play it off casually when it happened. Leslie was touched. Her eyes softened and her voice did, too. “Thank you, Jake.”

Jake smiled in return, happy to make her happy.

“Thank you.” Leslie repeated, paused, then leaned in and kissed him once, sweetly, on the cheek. “Merry Christmas.”

**Author's Note:**

> I saw your request for this fandom and had to write you a fic. I love Jake/Leslie and hope you enjoy!


End file.
